Poaching threatens western gorillas

(CNN) – Conservationists warn that western gorillas, found in the forests of central Africa, could be hunted to extinction in our lifetime if something is not done to stop illegal poaching.

Thousands of wild gorillas are killed each year for their meat, which is smoked and sold as a high-priced delicacy in city markets.

"It's really a big commercial business. Powerful interests, powerful men in the city," said Peter Walsh of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "These poachers kill virtually every animal in the area and then they ship it back to the city where it is sold for a large profit."

Hunting gorillas is illegal in all of the countries that make up the gorillas' habitat, which include Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, and Republic of Congo.

Poaching is believed to be a bigger threat to the species' survival than the destruction of the gorillas' habitat, experts at a recent conference said.

"There's two kinds of evidence, one is the very high incidence of gorilla meat in markets, the second kind of evidence is survey data showing that areas that used to have very large gorilla populations are now virtually empty of gorillas," Walsh said.

Gorilla poaching has reached crisis levels even in national parks – where new logging roads have given hunters easy access into forests. Civil unrest and mismanagement of protected areas are also blamed.

In the 1990s, the number of western gorillas was estimated at about 100,000 but experts now believe that number was exaggerated.

By contrast, the mountain gorillas of east Africa are considered to be relatively safe in protected areas, even though only a few hundred are believed to be living in the wild.

Gorilla experts said the serious law enforcement efforts that have helped the mountain gorillas could protect the western gorillas as well.

They recommend strict enforcement of poaching laws, as well as laws against transporting or selling gorilla meat.